Lao Shoppers Hard Hit by Doubled Prices of Essential Foods

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Lao Shoppers Hard Hit by Doubled Prices of Essential Foods

Prices for essential foods have recently surged in village markets in Laos despite growing levels of unemployment due to business closings to prevent the spread of coronavirus, sources in the one-party communist state say.

For vegetables used in everyday meals, such as green onions, cilantro, chili peppers, and eggplant, prices have almost doubled, a villager living close to a market in the Lao capital Vientiane said, speaking to RFA’s Lao Service.

“Everything is going up,” the woman said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Before the prices started to climb, a small bunch of cilantro would cost only about 2,000 kip [U.S. $0.22], but these have now gone up to as much as 3,000 kip, and this is for a quantity large enough for only one meal,” she said.

“We would like the government to investigate the rise in these prices, since many people have no jobs now and have no money like they had before the outbreak of COVID-19,” she said.

Annual per capita GDP in Laos is about $2,500, similar to Vietnam and about one-third that of Thailand.

In the northern province of Luang Prabang, the price of vegetables at the Phou Sy market has climbed two to three times higher in the last week alone, and shoppers must now buy their vegetables in bundles rather than kilos, another villager said.

“It’s the rainy season now, and the price of green onions and cilantro has climbed from a cheap price of about 1,000 kip per bunch to about two to three thousand kip per bunch,” the villager said, adding that prices had shot up only in the last two to three weeks.

In Xieng Khouang province in the country’s northeast, the price of string beans has now doubled, with a kilo that formerly cost 6,000 kip now costing 12,000 kip, another source said. And a vegetable popularly eaten with beef salad has now climbed in price from 8,000 to 15,000 kip per kilo.

“Another vegetable that people like to add to their soup is more expensive than before, and is not available in the markets,” the source said.

“This is now the rainy season, and people are farming,” he said, adding, “They have no time to look for vegetables in the forest, and this is why they are in short supply in the markets.”

Prices difficult to control

Reached for comment, an official at the Lao Ministry of Agriculture said it is difficult to control the cost of vegetables and other essential goods in the markets, as prices will rise and fall according to the law of supply and demand.

If supplies are greater but there is less demand, the prices will go down, he said. But if there is a greater demand for less supply, the prices will climb.

“The government can control the meat market, not allowing prices to climb to more than 45,000 kip per kilo [of pork], but it’s harder to control fluctuations in the price of vegetables,” he said.

“The only solution is to not allow food to be imported from neighboring countries.”

Sold in bunches

Meanwhile, a merchant at a market in Vientiane said that as a small vendor, she buys vegetables from middlemen whose prices for cilantro have doubled from around 30,000-35,000 kip to from 60,000 to 70,000 kip per basket.

A basket of green onions has now risen from around 25,000 to 55,000 kip, she added.

“Therefore, I have to reduce the quantities I sell by putting them in bunches just to make a profit,” she said.

A vegetable grower in Vientiane meanwhile blamed the recent surge in prices on the country’s rainy season, when vegetables are in short supply because they can’t be harvested quickly and often spoil in the fields.

“Vegetables like cold weather, mostly in the months of October and November,” she said, adding in comparison that during the rainy season, the price of fruit begins to fall.

“The price of vegetables will go down again in two to three months’ time when the weather gets warmer again, and growers can produce more. Consumers should understand this,” she said.

One Lao kip equals U.S. $0.00011

Reported by RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Sidney Khotpanya. Written in English by Richard Finney.



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Brazil 5G tender cannot be swayed by debates over China, says house speaker

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Brazil 5G tender cannot be swayed by debates over China, says house speaker

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Huawei is seen in Davos, Switzerland January 22, 2020. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

BRASILIA (Reuters) – A fifth-generation (5G) telecoms tender in Brazil should not be contaminated by ideological battles with China and more competition will lead to better prices for consumers, the head of the lower house said on Tuesday.

Speaker Rodrigo Maia said Brazil’s telecoms regulator Anatel should run the auction and that the supposedly economically liberal government of President Jair Bolsonaro should focus on free and fair competition. He added that ideological debates could interfere in Brazil’s other sectors, such as agribusiness.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has urged governments worldwide, including Brazil, to shun the world’s largest telecoms equipment maker, China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL], because of spying concerns but few have heeded those warnings so far. Huawei, a leader in setting 5G standards, has consolidated its presence in Brazil over the last 20 years.

Originally scheduled for March, Brazil’s 5G auction has been pushed back and no new date has been set.

Last week, U.S. ambassador for Brazil Todd Chapman told Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo that the United States is in talks with Brazil and its telecommunications companies on funding the acquisition of 5G produced by Swedish company Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia.

Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain, was a longtime China skeptic before assuming a far less abrasive attitude toward the world’s No. 2 economy when he took office in 2019.

Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; editing by Grant McCool

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Modi’s Hindutva regime will ‘face a befitting response’, says Qureshi as India-China tensions rise

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Modi’s Hindutva regime will ‘face a befitting response’, says Qureshi as India-China tensions rise

Pakistan was “closely monitoring” the deteriorating situation between India and China after 20 of New Delhi’s soldiers were killed in the conflict at the disputed Ladakh region — at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said. The News/Files

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindutva regime would “face a befitting response”, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Tuesday, as tensions between Beijing and New Delhi escalated following a violent face-off with the Chinese army.

Pakistan, Qureshi added, was “closely monitoring” the deteriorating situation between India and China after 20 of New Delhi’s soldiers were killed in the conflict at the disputed Ladakh region — at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.

Speaking on Geo News programme Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath, Qureshi said the responsibility of the escalation lay squarely with India, which “should not have constructed roads” there.

The longstanding conflict between the two neighbouring nations has seen a war in 1962 and while India overstepped again earlier today, “China used existing mechanisms to resolve situation through talks and strategy”.

“India continued on and tried to flex its muscles; it first got a visible beating and now 20 of its troops have been killed,” the foreign minister said. That number, he warned, could rise as well, given the concerning situation.

Terming its behaviour as a hampering of strategic regional ties, he said India was martyring Kashmiris by firing across the Line of Control (LoC), has locked horns with China at the LAC, has started a conflict with Nepal, used the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and upset Bangladesh by calling its citizens “termites”, and has issues with Sri Lanka.

People were curious about India’s foreign policy, he added, noting that the country “has become isolated”.

Qureshi said India made the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) forum dysfunctional and there was no neighbouring country with which it had good relations.

“This is the play of Narendra Modi’s Hindutva regime and it will face a befitting response,” he noted.

In response to a question on whether there was higher or lower risk now of India launching a false-flag operation in a bid to divert attention from Kashmir and its own deteriorating economy, Qureshi said the danger was still there and that Pakistan had information that it plans to use diversionary tactics.

“There’s a reason for it. See, the disorderly and unplanned lockdown it imposed damaged its economy and failed to control the spread of the coronavirus.

“Look at India’s situation on June 1 and as of today; its conditions are worsening fast. They had to lift their lockdown, they face economic loss and couldn’t sustain it, and the infection [of coronavirus] is rising too.

“At the same time, India is using diversionary tactics. The Opposition parties and minorities are both upset and then there’s their treatment of Muslims,” the foreign minister explained.

Qureshi revealed that he would “very soon” call a meeting of the foreign ministers of member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir “to talk to them and ask what is going on”.

“I have also written letters to the United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) and the UN Security Council (UNSC) and now, today, international — and even Indian — media are criticising [the Modi government]”, he said.

Moving towards a conflict ends up destabilising the entire region, the minister underscored, adding that even UNSG Antonio Guterres was appealing for a ceasefire in conflict zones after the coronavirus pandemic took over the world and posed an unprecedented challenge.

“What is Pakistan doing? Peace and reconciliation on the western border with Afghanistan and asking all intra-Afghan factions to initiate a dialogue to move towards peace.

“What is India doing? Despite COVID-19, its aggression and brutality in Kashmir continues, there’s no reduction in the restrictions, and now the China conflict,” Qureshi said.

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EU ramps up criticism of Trump over International Criminal Court

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EU ramps up criticism of Trump over International Criminal Court

U.S. President Donald Trump | Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Foreign policy chief brands move to impose sanctions on officials ‘unacceptable.’

The European Union on Tuesday stepped up its criticism of Donald Trump’s decision to authorize sanctions against International Criminal Court officials, branding the move “unacceptable” and calling on the U.S. president to reverse course.

“The European Union expresses grave concern about the announced measures and reconfirms its unwavering support for the International Criminal Court,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.

“Sanctions against those involved in the work of the ICC, its staff and their families as well as persons associated with the ICC are unacceptable and unprecedented in scope and content.”

Trump last week signed an executive order authorizing the possible imposition of economic sanctions and visa restrictions on ICC employees involved in an investigation into whether American forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

In an initial reaction the same day, Borrell said at a press conference that Trump’s move was “a matter of serious concern.” But he said he had to be cautious as he had only just heard the news.

Tuesday’s written statement showed the EU has decided to double down on speaking out about its concerns.

“The European Union remains committed to defending the Court from any outside interference aimed at obstructing the course of justice and undermining the international system of criminal justice,” Borrell said. “We urge the US to reverse its position.”

Trump’s decision was announced a few days before a video meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and EU foreign ministers, led by Borrell, on Monday. That meeting highlighted a range of disagreements between two longstanding allies whose relations have become increasingly strained since Trump took office.



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Virginia Governor To Propose Juneteenth As State Holiday

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Virginia Governor To Propose Juneteenth As State Holiday

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday that he will propose making Juneteenth — a day that commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. — an official holiday in a state that was once home to the capital of the Confederacy.

Juneteenth, which is also called Emancipation Day and Freedom Day, is celebrated annually on June 19. Texas first made it a state holiday in 1980.

“It’s time we elevate this,” Northam said of the June 19 commemoration. “Not just a celebration by and for some Virginians but one acknowledged and celebrated by all of us.”

The holiday would be a paid day off for all state employees. Northam said he thinks Virginia would be only the second state to do so.

Northam was joined Tuesday at his news conference by musician Pharrell Williams, who is from Virginia. “This is a very special moment,” Williams said.

The holiday commemorates June 19, 1865, when news finally reached African Americans in Texas that President Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves living in Confederate states two years earlier. When Union soldiers arrived in Galveston to bring the news that slavery had been abolished, former slaves celebrated.

President Donald Trump announced last week that he has rescheduled a campaign rally that was planned in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Juneteenth. The announcement of the rally had sparked an outcry because Tulsa was the site of one of the worst instances of racial violence in U.S. history in 1921, when hundreds of African Americans were massacred by a white mob that burned black-owned businesses and homes.

Earlier this year, Northam signed legislation scrapping Lee-Jackson Day, a state holiday named after two Confederate generals.



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Dining in the Street? As Restaurants Reopen, Seating Moves Outdoors

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Dining in the Street? As Restaurants Reopen, Seating Moves Outdoors

As restaurants around the country look to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic, outdoor seating is becoming a survival option, and local governments are helping by cutting red tape.

If a restaurant in Louisville, Ky., for instance, had wanted to offer dining service on a patio before the pandemic, it would have had to apply for a permit, pay fees of $1,150 — and then wait, for up to six months.

Not so today.

To help restaurants get back on their feet after the coronavirus-induced shutdown, the city has waived its fee for outdoor dining and substantially shortened the processing time for applications. The approval for outdoor seating, which involves neighborhood review of a restaurant’s plans, used to take three to six months. Now, the wait is a couple of days.

“We’re loosening up a bit,” said Louisville’s mayor, Greg Fischer.

This scenario is being repeated across the country as local governments rapidly rewrite the rules about how restaurants can operate when they reopen after quarantine shutdowns battered their businesses. And the cost for restaurants to open outdoor seating can be as low as a few thousand dollars.

The leisure and hospitality industry, which includes restaurants, suffered severe losses in April, shedding more than seven million jobs, but bounced back in May as furloughed employees returned to work.

With the spread of the coronavirus still a danger, many states are requiring that restaurants reduce their capacity to 25 to 50 percent of normal operations to ensure there is at least six feet between tables, in keeping with social-distancing practices. Some, like New Jersey, are prohibiting indoor dining altogether for the time being.

However, even as states take away capacity in the name of public safety, local officials are trying to give at least some of it back by allowing eating establishments to expand onto patios and parking lots, and even city sidewalks and streets. But the moves are disrupting neighborhoods and costing cities much-needed tax revenue.

The effort appears to be paying off. OpenTable, a provider of online restaurant reservations, has counted a tenfold increase in outdoor seating this spring compared with a year ago.

The restaurant industry supports the new flexibility on outdoor seating as a way to help restaurants regain their footing. Restaurants lost more than $120 billion in sales during March, April and May, according to the National Restaurant Association. The trade group also said that 3 percent of restaurants that responded to its surveys had already closed permanently because of the pandemic, and an estimated eight million restaurant employees are still out of work.

But the risk of contracting the coronavirus remains for patrons and employees. As of Saturday, coronavirus cases were climbing in 22 states amid reopening plans. Several Florida bars voluntarily closed their dining rooms recently after workers tested positive for the virus.

And some are wondering what it says about local regulations concerning outdoor seating if they are so easily swept away.

Pre-pandemic rules sought to ensure that restaurants adhere to health and fire safety codes, provide equal access to those with disabilities and protect neighbors from noise and disruption. The new practices raise equity issues, with some critics arguing that allowing restaurants to expand outdoors effectively favors customers over everyone else in a neighborhood.

Some cities could lose revenue, too. Procedures vary by municipality, but in many places, government agencies that review applications for outdoor dining solicit community feedback. Application and annual renewal fees in some places can add up to several thousand dollars a year. Some cities charge fees based on the amount of outdoor space used.

But with restaurants in dire straits and the clock ticking before some go under, governments are reducing or waiving fees and quickly approving plans they previously may have taken months to process.

“What you’re seeing now is the expediency of helping people instead of spending the time asking everyone if it’s OK,” said Matthew Kwatinetz, director of the Urban Lab at the Schack Institute of Real Estate at New York University’s School of Professional Studies.

The new open-air seating arrangements not only help the restaurant industry recapture lost business, they also appeal to customers who want a restaurant meal but are wary of venturing inside, where the virus can spread more easily, as studies have shown. In a recent survey by the online publication Slate, 36 percent of respondents said they would eat at a restaurant outdoors, while only 15 percent said they would eat at a restaurant indoors with reduced seating.

Restaurants in suburban and rural areas may be able to add tables on their own property.

When Craft House in Dana Point, Calif., reopened after a two-month quarantine, it had to reduce seating indoors. But the restaurant also got the green light to turn 11 of the 20 spots in its parking lot into an impromptu dining area, strung with lights. Total cost: around $5,000.

“Luckily, there have been no issues from the neighbors,” said Blake Mellgren, the proprietor and executive chef.

In urban areas where restaurants may not have private outdoor space, governments are letting them set up tables on sidewalks, streets and public plazas. Even on-street parking spots are being used for impromptu seating areas known as parklets or streateries.

When Florida allowed restaurants to reopen at 25 percent capacity in early May, Tampa experimented with some of these approaches in a two-week pilot program. It suspended permit requirements for sidewalk seating, and it allowed restaurants to use adjacent on-street parking spaces for dining spots set off by planters, fences and traffic cones. Fire safety and accessibility requirements remained in effect.

The city also closed several streets to vehicle traffic, creating “cafe and retail zones” that were monitored by the police and code enforcement officers. To prevent people from milling around while waiting for tables, the city established a “no seat, no service” policy and asked people to make reservations.

In Tampa, some restaurants pushed back, arguing that road closures hindered businesses because they eliminated through traffic and made it more difficult for customers to pick up takeout orders. But city officials deemed the pilot an overall success and have allowed some streets to remain closed and the sidewalk seating to continue, said Carole Post, administrator for development and economic opportunity.

  • Updated June 12, 2020

    • Does asymptomatic transmission of Covid-19 happen?

      So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was “very rare,” but she later walked back that statement.

    • What’s the risk of catching coronavirus from a surface?

      Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.

    • How does blood type influence coronavirus?

      A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.

    • How many people have lost their jobs due to coronavirus in the U.S.?

      The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nation’s job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.

    • Will protests set off a second viral wave of coronavirus?

      Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.

    • How do we start exercising again without hurting ourselves after months of lockdown?

      Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, “start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid,” says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. “When you haven’t been exercising, you lose muscle mass.” Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home.

    • My state is reopening. Is it safe to go out?

      States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you aren’t being told to stay at home, it’s still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.

    • What are the symptoms of coronavirus?

      Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.

    • How can I protect myself while flying?

      If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)

    • Should I wear a mask?

      The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’t replace hand washing and social distancing.

    • What should I do if I feel sick?

      If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.

Cities in the Northeast are trying similar tactics.

In Hoboken, N.J., officials devised a small-business recovery strategy that went into effect on Monday. Restaurants may set up tables on sidewalks and parking spots until Oct. 15, when the new measures will be reassessed.

“A year ago, if you had asked any one of us to give up sidewalk space to businesses, we would have said absolutely not,” said Jennifer Giattino, president of the City Council and a proponent of the plan. “Now our thinking has changed to let’s try anything as long as it’s safe.”

Outdoor seating has its limits, of course, not the least of which is the weather. Although nice on a temperate day, it can lose its allure in rain or blazing or chilly days.

And alfresco tables may help some restaurants recapture some or all of the capacity lost indoors, but the strategy might not be enough for others to reopen, given current operating limits.

In Louisville, where indoor capacity is capped at 33 percent per state directive, some restaurants are taking a “lag and learn” approach, said Mr. Fischer, the mayor.

But Catherine Mac Dowall and Michael Kerrigan, proprietors of the farm-to-table restaurant Naïve, dived in.

The business partners, who are married, had long wanted to add seating in back of the building they rent in Louisville’s artsy Butchertown neighborhood. One thing that had always held them back were the “tons of hoops to jump through,” as Ms. Mac Dowall put it, to get everything approved.

But when she and her husband heard that the city had streamlined the process in its reopening plans, they quickly filled out a short online application. Once it was approved, they leveled the backyard, covered it with gravel and added tables.

The first day the new patio was open, almost all the restaurant’s customers sat outside.

Ms. Mac Dowall praised city officials for making the process so easy, while also expressing regret that the decision did not come sooner. “Why couldn’t it have been easier before?” she asked. “Why did it take a pandemic for the government to allow people to eat outside?”

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Beijing Under Partial Lockdown As Virus Cases Keep Rising

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Beijing Under Partial Lockdown As Virus Cases Keep Rising

Authorities in the Chinese capital on Tuesday imposed travel restrictions on people considered high-risk amid a fresh outbreak of coronavirus cases centered on a now-shuttered wholesale produce market.

The Beijing municipal government raised its COVID-19 emergency response level to II from III, suspended plans to reopen some primary schools and reversed the relaxation of some social isolation measures, state media reported.

Beijing Capital International Airport and Beijing Daxing Airport both suspended inter-provincial flight services on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Beijing city government banned ride-hailing services, taxis, and some long-distance bus routes, as close contacts of confirmed cases were barred from leaving the city. Anyone leaving the city will be required to hold a recent negative nucleic acid test for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Some 90,000 people in two neighborhoods in the city of 20 million have also been placed under lockdown.

“The areas where new coronavirus cases have been found are now under tight security, and they are starting to lock them down,” Fengtai district resident Li Qiang told RFA on Tuesday.

“But there aren’t any obvious measures in place elsewhere [in the city],” he said. “They are asking for ID to get in or out of some of the residential compounds; you can’t get in without it.”

The city’s health commission confirmed 27 new cases in Beijing, bringing the total number of new cases since Friday to 106.

Authorities are continuing to test anyone believed to have visited the now-shuttered Xinfadi wholesale goods market, as well as any of their contacts during the past two weeks.

Residents skeptical

But residents said they were skeptical about the government’s reporting of the true extent of the outbreak.

“It’s pretty serious in Fengtai and Daxing districts,” a Beijing resident surnamed Tang said. “Xinfadi has been sealed off by armed police. They haven’t finished testing everyone yet.”

“It’s pretty bad, but I don’t think they are reporting the true figures,” she said. “I don’t think they’re even reporting one third of the true number.”

Residential communities near the market, in Beijing’s Fengtai district, have been placed under lockdown, along with the area around a second market, where three cases were confirmed.

Passenger numbers on buses, trains, and subways are also being restricted, and passengers required to wear face-masks.

The new outbreak comes after the authorities went for 50 days without reporting a single case of coronavirus, and after the ruling Chinese Communist Party declared “victory” over the coronavirus.

Shanghai also issued a requirement for travelers from Beijing to be quarantined for 14 days on arrival in the city.

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 438,000 people and infected more than 8 million since it first emerged in China last December, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Reported by Qiao Long for RFA’s Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.



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Your Wednesday Briefing

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Your Wednesday Briefing

At least 20 Indian soldiers died in a brawl with Chinese troops in the Himalayas, instantly raising tensions to a high pitch between India and China.

An Indian military spokesman said on Tuesday that three Indian soldiers were killed during the fighting, which involved rocks and wooden clubs, and 17 others succumbed to injuries and cold in the freezing, high-elevation terrain. Preliminary reports indicated that the soldiers had not been shot.

Indian media reported that Chinese soldiers had been killed, but this was not confirmed by Beijing.

The two countries had been working to de-escalate border tensions following several face-offs between Chinese and Indian troops in recent weeks.

Context: The violence is a continuation of a long-running dispute between India and China about the precise location of their jagged Himalayan border, known as the Line of Actual Control. They fought a war over it in 1962 that ended in an uneasy peace.

What’s next: “Neither side wants a war, especially India, because China has a far superior military,” Jeffrey Gettleman, our New Delhi bureau chief, told me. “Both sides are now trying to calm things down, at least that’s what the governments are telling us. What’s actually happening up on the Himalayan border, that’s another story. It’s a very remote area, off-limits to all but a few lonely herders and Indian and Chinese troops.”

Beijing raised its level of health alert to the second highest on Tuesday, ordering schools to close and urging people to work from home, as the government pressed to stop a spike in coronavirus infections.

Medical authorities confirmed another 27 infections, creating a total of 106 cases since last week, all traced to the sprawling Xinfadi wholesale food market in the city’s south.

City officials face intense pressure to extinguish the new outbreak. President Xi Jinping has made defending Beijing from virus infections a priority.

Dozens of cities and provinces across China have in recent days stepped up monitoring and quarantine measures for people from Beijing.

Here are the latest updates and maps of where the virus has spread.

In other developments:

  • New Zealand recorded two new coronavirus cases in travelers who had returned from Britain, breaking a 24-day streak without new infections.

  • Hong Kong will relax some social distancing restrictions on Thursday, allowing wedding banquets and live music concerts to resume.

  • Local officials in Tulsa, Oklahoma, are worried about an outbreak ahead of President Trump’s first campaign rally in months — slated to be held in a 20,000-person indoor arena on Saturday.

  • An Oxford University study of the effects of dexamethasone, an inexpensive steroid, on Covid-19 patients showed promising results.

North Korea blew up a building where its officials had recently worked side by side with their South Korean counterparts in a liaison office. It was a clear message from the North of its displeasure with the South.

South Korean border guards heard an explosion and saw smoke rising from Kaesong, the North Korean town where the building was located. The blast was so powerful that windows in nearby buildings were shattered. (Watch the video.)

No South Koreans had worked in the office since January, when it was closed during the pandemic.

The North said the explosion reflected “the mind-set of the enraged people.”

Background: The office was opened in 2018 as a sign of thawing relations, and was the first channel for full-time, person-to-person contact between the Koreas.

Choe Sang-Hun, our Seoul bureau chief, said, “The Korean Peninsula may be plunging back into another phase of rising tensions. For months, North Korea has voiced its frustration with the South, repeatedly warning that it has lost faith in dealing with Seoul.”

From the moment Iraq’s new prime minister stepped off a helicopter for a tour of Mosul, the city most damaged by the Islamic State, he plunged into a landscape of loss. Everywhere there were wrecked buildings, communities shredded, and the shadow of “the disappeared” — people taken by the Islamic State and never found, and those killed or imprisoned by Iraqi forces or militias.

Our Baghdad bureau chief, Alissa Rubin, went with him as he took stock of years of destruction. “People are bearing the burden of something they did not cause,” he said.

Hungary: Parliament passed legislation on Tuesday that critics say would cement into everyday use the sweeping powers claimed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban to fight the coronavirus.

In memoriam: Sarah Hegazi, an Egyptian L.G.B.T. activist who had been arrested after waving a rainbow flag, then jailed and tortured, took her life in Canada. In a final note, she wrote: “To the world: You’ve been greatly cruel, but I forgive.”

Snapshot: Above, a restaurant in Lake Worth Beach, Fla., in May. Outdoor seating at restaurants has become a popular solution for cities trying to reopen carefully. But in places like New York City, there’s been some backsliding, with people disregarding social distancing because they feel safe outdoors.

What we’re reading: This piece in The Atlantic is an ode to the cluttered home. Maybe clinging to your stuff, like those extra jars of spaghetti sauce, is more in sync with pandemic life these days.

Cook: This compound butter adds richness and pungency to simple grilled meats, fish, toast, vegetables, beans, pasta or eggs. It’s a snap to make.

Watch: The documentary “My Father, a Spy,” which follows the translator and journalist Ieva Lesinska-Geibere as she assesses her relationship with her father, a K.G.B. spy who defected to the United States in the 1970s.

Do: We have a few tips on picking a meditation app that could help you steal a few minutes of Zen.

At Home has our full collection of ideas on what to read, cook, watch, and do while staying safe at home.

The conviction of Maria Ressa, the award-winning journalist and founder of the news website Rappler who was found guilty of cyber libel in the Philippines on Monday, is being seen as a blow to press freedom in that country.

Alexandra Stevenson, our business reporter in Hong Kong who has been covering the case, spoke to Carole Landry, on the Briefings team, about the decision.

How much of a chilling effect will Maria Ressa’s conviction have on the media in the Philippines?

The media in the Philippines has been under pressure for some time. President Rodrigo Duterte bullies reporters and calls them “sons of bitches” at news conferences, officials have denied reporters’ access to official presidential events, and trolls have organized online campaigns to single out reporters and call them names like “presstitutes.” Yes, that’s a hybrid of the words press and prostitute.

The verdict of this case is different because it institutionalized some of this hostility. It was a test case for the definition of cyber libel. The case was originally dismissed by regulators because the time limitation — one year — had run out. But more senior officials applied a new argument to cyber libel, essentially saying that because an article can be updated online, it counts as continuous publication, making the libel a continuous crime. With Monday’s verdict, experts now say that publishers of online content can be sued for up to 12 years after something is published.

President Duterte has not been shy about his contempt for the media. Does this court ruling signal a hardening of his approach?

The Duterte administration has become more effective at silencing journalists. The president has threatened for years to take away the license for ABS-CBN, the national broadcaster. In May, the telecoms agency actually forced the network off the air, leaving a massive information void in parts of the country where the only source of general information for basic services and the weather is the broadcaster.

How has the coronavirus pandemic played into this shift?

We’ve seen more authoritarian-leaning governments around the world take advantage of social distancing rules to tighten their grip on protests and freedom of expression. In that same vein you could argue that a crackdown on the media in the Philippines is easier to pull off now because the rest of the world has limited bandwidth for more news.

That’s it for this briefing. See you next time.

— Melina

Thank you
To Melissa Clark for the recipe, and to Theodore Kim and Jahaan Singh for the rest of the break from the news. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com.

P.S.
• We’re listening to “The Daily.” Our latest episode is about the landmark Supreme Court ruling in the U.S.
• Here’s our Mini Crossword, and a clue: Italy’s capital, to Italians (four letters). You can find all our puzzles here.
• Lauretta Charlton, an editor for our Hong Kong newsroom, spoke with Glamour magazine about reporting as a black journalist.

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Trump signs executive order aimed at reining in errant police

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Trump signs executive order aimed at reining in errant police

Calling for unity as legislators in Washington, DC debate police reform and cities across the country struggle to address anti-police protests, President Donald Trump signed a new executive order on Tuesday that he said, “encourages police departments to adopt the highest professional standards”.

Trump’s order establishes financial incentives for police departments to adopt national best practices through credentials to be offered by independent qualifying bodies. It would restrict chokeholds of the kind that killed George Floyd on May 25 but still allow use when a police officer’s life is threatened.

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The order also establishes a Department of Justice database that will track police officers who are accused of using excessive force to prevent bad cops from hopping from town to town in law enforcement.

It would steer more federal funding to training for police departments in handling mental health, homelessness and addiction.

“What’s needed now is not more stoking of fear and division. We need to bring law enforcement and communities closer together, not to drive them apart,” Trump said.

Democrats in the House of Representatives and Republicans in the Senate are preparing competing packages of policing changes as US politicians seek to respond to mass demonstrations over the deaths of George Floyd and other Black Americans.

The flurry of activity shows how quickly the mass protests over police violence and racial prejudice are transforming politics in the US.

Kyle Kondik, an analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said the president and Congress are responding to “some real measurable shifts in public opinion about police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement”.

“Usually when there are big shifts in public opinion you do see politicians try to get in front of that. It’s not just Trump,” Kondik told Al Jazeera.

“These protests have captured the public’s interest and the political system is responding to that,” Kondik said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday held a hearing on policing, drawing testimony from the nation’s leading civil rights and law enforcement leaders.

“Now is the time to reimagine a more fair and just society in which all people are safe,” Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, told senators, according to The Associated Press news agency.

The nationwide outcry “is anything but a reaction to one isolated incident or the misconduct of a few ‘bad apples'”, Gupta said.

‘RIP Rayshard’ is spray-painted on a sign as as flames engulf a Wendy’s restaurant during protests in Atlanta, Georgia. The restaurant was where Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed by police following a struggle in the restaurant’s drive-thru line [Brynn Anderson/AP Photo]

Senator Tim Scott, the sole African American Republican in the Senate, has been crafting the Republican legislative package, which will include new restrictions on police chokeholds and greater use of police body cameras, among other provisions. Scott said he spoke with Trump about the legislation over the weekend.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Trump’s executive action does not go far enough.

“While the president has finally acknowledged the need for policing reform, one modest executive order will not make up for his years of inflammatory rhetoric and policies designed to roll back the progress made in previous years,” Schumer said in a statement.

The proposals emerging from Democrats and Republicans share many similar provisions but take different approaches to address some of the issues. Neither bill goes as far as some activists want in their push to “defund the police” by fully revamping departments.

“I strongly oppose the radical and dangerous efforts to defund, dismantle and dissolve our police departments,” Trump said.

“We have to give them great respect for what they do, for the job is one of the most dangerous jobs on earth,” he said.

Trump took a political shot at Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, saying Biden had failed to address criminal justice reform as vice president during the Obama administration.

“Many of the same politicians now presenting themselves as the solution are the same ones who have failed for decades on schools, jobs, justice and crime,” Trump said, sounding a campaign theme.

Biden is casting the issue more broadly as revolving around “systemic racism” and tweeted a video clip of a conversation with a campaign field organiser.


SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies



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Protest live updates: Tyler Perry to pay for Rayshard Brooks’ funeral; Trump signs order encouraging limit on deadly force

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Protest live updates: Tyler Perry to pay for Rayshard Brooks’ funeral; Trump signs order encouraging limit on deadly force

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Oluwatoyin Salau, Victoria Sims found dead: What we know

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Amid calls for police reform across the nation, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that encourages police departments to “meet the most current professional standards for the use of force.” 

The Seattle City Council voted unanimously Monday night to ban police from using tear gas and pepper spray. The vote comes after officers defied Mayor Jenny Durkan’s promise to not use tear gas on protesters in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Meanwhile, new audio of a phone call revealed that a 911 dispatcher called her supervisor to express concern over the force used against George Floyd.

A closer look at some recent developments: 

  • Monday night, three New York Police Department officers were hospitalized briefly after complaining of not feeling well after drinking milkshakes from Shake Shack. Following an investigation, the New York Police Department said “no criminality” had occurred.
  • Tyler Perry is paying for the funeral of Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man who was fatally shot by a white Atlanta police officer outside a Wendy’s restaurant late Friday.
  • A hospital in California’s capital city of Sacramento removed a statue of John Sutter, who enslaved Native Americans, from outside its building.
  • A man was shot at an Albuquerque protest Monday night following a tense clash between protesters and heavily armed New Mexico Civil Guard members, who were trying to protect a statue of conquistador Juan de Oñate.
  • Nineteen Atlanta officers resigned this week amid ongoing unrest in the city.
  • While fighting back tears in a press conference in Atlanta, Rayshard Brooks’ widow Tomika Miller said: “There’s no justice that can ever make me feel happy about what has been done.”

Our live blog will be updated throughout the day. For first-in-the-morning updates, sign up for The Daily Briefing.

Trump signs order to encourage police to limit deadly force

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that encourages law enforcement agencies to adopt high standards for the use of deadly force.

“Today is about pursuing common sense and fighting for a cause like we seldom get the chance to fight for,” Trump said in comments made in the Rose Garden. “We have to find common ground. But I strongly oppose the radical and dangerous efforts to (defund), dismantle and dissolve our police departments … Americans know the truth: without police there is chaos, without law there is anarchy and without safety, there is catastrophe.”

Trump said the order would focus on certifying police officers on de-escalation tactics; creating a database to track officers who have been accused of using excessive force, aiming to prevent them from being rehired at another police department; and launching a co-respondent program that would see mental health professional working more closely with police. 

Trump said the order bans choke holds “unless an officer’s life is at risk.” 

Trump and his staff developed the executive order amid protests in cities nationwide in response to a series of police killings, particularly last month’s death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The White House was also the scene of protests in the week following Floyd’s death. The order comes down as Trump, down in pre-election polls to Democratic challenger Joe Biden, faces criticism over his handling of nationwide protests over Floyd’s death.

– Courtney Subramanian

Dispatcher warned police sergeant as officer pinned down George Floyd

A 911 dispatcher who was apparently watching in real time as a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into the neck of George Floyd called a supervisor to tell him what she saw, not caring if it made her look like a “snitch,” according to a recording of the call made public Monday.

In the recording, the dispatcher calls a police sergeant and says what she was seeing on live video looked “different” and that she wanted to let him know about it. The dispatcher was in a 911 call center at the time and was watching video from a surveillance camera posted at the intersection where police apprehended Floyd, according to city spokesman Casper Hill.

“I don’t know, you can call me a snitch if you want to, but we have the cameras up for 320’s call. … Um, I don’t know if they had used force or not. They got something out of the back of the squad, and all of them sat on this man. So, I don’t know if they needed you or not, but they haven’t said anything to me yet,” says the dispatcher, whose name is edited out of the recording.

Minnesota Freedom Fund faces criticism for use of donations

The Minnesota Freedom Fund, a nonprofit organization that helps minority and immigrant communities meet bail, came under criticism after it posted a tweet that said it used just $200,000 in bail payments since the surge of donations after George Floyd’s death.

In a different communication, the organization said “tens of thousands of people from all over the world have donated more than $25 million” since Floyd’s death. After the first tweet, critics sought transparency about how the remaining stockpile of donations would be used.

The MFF said on June 2 that it would pause accepting donations, since the organization was “flooded with resources and we are going to take a beat while we marshal those.” It also added that it had “some big plays in mind.”

Three days later, the MFF said that because “financial needs for protester bails has almost certainly been met,” donations may be used to “to expand legal support” for those arrested during protests.

Tyler Perry to pay for Rayshard Brooks’ funeral

Tyler Perry is paying for the funeral of Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man who was fatally shot by a white Atlanta police officer outside a Wendy’s restaurant late Friday.

Brooks’ family attorney Chris Stewart made the announcement at a press conference in Atlanta on Monday. The same day, hundreds of protesters demanded an end to systemic racism during a “March on Georgia.”

Perry has not made a statement about the funeral on social media, but did post a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. earlier Monday.

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear,” the quote reads.

Also, according to People, Perry has also offered to pay for the college educations of Brooks’ four children.

– Sara M. Moniuszko

Man shot at tense New Mexico protest

One man was shot at an Albuquerque protest Monday night following a clash between protesters and heavily armed New Mexico Civil Guard members, who were trying to protect a statue of conquistador Juan de Oñate.

The injured man is in “critical, but stable condition” at a hospital, officials said. 

Police in a statement said detectives arrested Stephen Ray Baca, 31, and that he was jailed on suspicion of aggravated battery. Authorities had said earlier that several people were detained for questioning.

The shooting happened hours after Mayor Tim Keller announced the creation of a division made up of social workers, housing and homelessness specialists, and violence prevention coordinators that will be deployed instead of police in calls about inebriation, homelessness, addiction and mental health.

“We’ve placed more and more issues on the plates of officers who are not trained — despite their best efforts and despite some training — they’re not totally trained to be a social worker, or to be an addiction counselor, or to deal with things around child abuse when they’re just answering a call,” Keller said in his Twitter announcement. “We should have trained professionals do this, instead of folks with a gun and a badge.”

More protests flare up across US

A look at overnight protests across the country: 

  • In southwest Atlanta, peaceful protesters marched and largely avoided contact with police. They blocked traffic for about 90 minutes.
  • In St. Cloud, Minnesota, at least one business suffered damage and several people were arrested early Tuesday when a large crowd gathered. Police used chemical irritants to try to disperse a crowd of about 100.
  • In Nashville, two days after protesters set up a small campsite outside the state Capitol, a lawmaker moved to make doing so a felony. Late Monday night, Tennessee Highway Patrol announced it detained 19 for refusing to leave the capitol grounds.
  • In Portland, Oregon, police declared a civil disturbance after they said hundreds of protesters threw projectiles at officers and pointed lasers at their eyes. Police say demonstrators set a fire and tagged buildings with graffiti. Portland Police said a deputy was taken to a hospital for treatment after the deputy was hit in the head with a large rock.
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The doctrine of qualified immunity has been used to protect police from civil lawsuits and trials. Here’s why it was put in place.

USA TODAY

NYPD officers hospitalized after drinking milkshakes from Shake Shack

The New York Police Department investigated whether three of its officers were poisoned after drinking milkshakes Monday night at a Shake Shack restaurant in Manhattan.

The officers complained of “not feeling well” before being hospitalized and later released, the NYPD said in a statement to USA TODAY, and Shake Shack said via Twitter that it was “horrified” and working with police.

The Detectives’ Endowment Association, the labor union that represents 20,000 active and retired New York City Detectives, condemned the incident as an attack on police, claiming on Twitter that the officers were “intentionally poisoned by one or more workers.”

However, Chief Rodney Harrison, NYPD’s chief of detectives, tweeted early Tuesday: “After a thorough investigation by the NYPD’s Manhattan South investigators, it has been determined that there was no criminality by shake shack’s employees.”

Seattle City Council votes to ban police from using tear gas, pepper spray

The Seattle City Council voted unanimously Monday night to ban police from using tear gas, pepper spray and several other crowd control devices after officers repeatedly used them on mostly peaceful demonstrators protesting against racism and police brutality.

The 9-0 vote came amid frustration with the Seattle Police Department, which used tear gas to disperse protesters in the city’s densest neighborhood, Capitol Hill, just days after Mayor Jenny Durkan and Chief Carmen Best promised not to.

The council heard repeated complaints from residents forced out of their homes by the gas even though they weren’t protesting; one resident said his wife doused their child’s eyes with breast milk.

A federal judge on Friday issued a temporary order banning Seattle police from using tear gas, pepper spray, foam-tipped projectiles or other force against protesters, finding that the department had used less-lethal weapons “disproportionately and without provocation,” chilling free speech in the process.

California hospital removes John Sutter statue from outside its building

Amid calls to remove controversial historic monuments nationwide, a hospital in California’s state capital on Monday removed a statue of John Sutter sitting outside its building, KCRA reported.

Sutter General Hospital in Sacramento removed the statue “out of respect for some community members’ viewpoints,” according to a statement.

“There are important conversations happening across the country about the appropriate representation of statues and monuments, and we look forward to listening to and participating in future conversations about how our own community may display artwork from the different communities and individuals that have played important roles in Sacramento’s history,” the statement read.

Sutter was a Swiss-German who enslaved Native Americans and built the Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park in 1841, which is directly across the street from the hospital.

More on protests

19 Atlanta officers resign as morale falls after Rayshard Brooks shooting

Nineteen Atlanta Police officers have resigned in the last week amid unrest in the city following the tasing of two college students by Atlanta officers, and most recently the killing of Rayshard Brooks. 

Police Chief Erika Shields also stepped down after the shooting of Brooks, who was stopped Friday night at a Wendy’s due to suspicion of drunk driving.

Prior to the announcement of the resignations, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced reforms to the police department by limiting the use of force through executive orders.

“The morale is bad right now,” the mayor said, according to Fox 5 in Atlanta. “My understanding is it is really bad.”

– Autumn Schoolman

California authorities will further review hanging death of Robert Fuller

Los Angeles County officials acknowledged Monday that community pressure and voices nationwide against racial inequality prompted them to take another look at the circumstances surrounding the death of Robert Fuller, a Black man found hanging from a tree in Palmdale, California.

The authorities initially indicated the death of Fuller, 24, appeared to be a suicide. Fuller’s family has challenged that contention, and hundreds of protesters turned out Saturday for a march starting at the park where his body was discovered June 10, across the street from City Hall.

As of Monday afternoon, more than 260,000 people had signed an online petition demanding a full investigation. At a Monday news conference, L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and the civil rights division of the FBI would monitor the Fuller investigation in an effort to make sure “that we leave no rock unturned.”

– Jorge L. Ortiz and Lorenzo Reyes

Brooks’ widow, Tomika Miller: ‘Long time before this family heals’

While speaking at a press conference alongside several other family members and family attorney L. Chris Stewart, Tomika Miller, Brooks’ widow, fought back tears and thanked the Atlanta community for an outpouring of support over the weekend.

“There’s no justice that can ever make me feel happy about what has been done,” Miller said. “I can never get my husband back. I can never get my best friend. I can never tell my daughter: ‘Oh, he’s coming to take you skating,’ or for swimming lessons. It’s just going to be a long time before I heal. It’s going to be a long time before this family heals.”

Miller asked protesters to remain peaceful during demonstrations “because we want to keep his name positive and great.”

Stewart said that another customer who was at the Wendy’s drive-thru sent him an image of a stray bullet hole that struck the customer’s car when the Atlanta police officer fired at Brooks. 

“There could have been more casualties,” Stewart said. “That’s what happens when you fire in a crowded parking lot.”

Stewart also thanked actor and comedian Tyler Perry for his offer to pay for Brooks’ funeral services.

CLOSE

Rayshard Brooks’ family walked out of a press conference after being overwhelmed talking about the death of Brooks.

USA TODAY

Breonna Taylor’s legacy could be an end to no-knock warrants

Louisville’s ban on no-knock search warrants, the kind used in the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor, may be the start of something bigger. State Rep. Attica Scott, D-Louisville, said she expects to prefile within the next week a bill to ban no-knock warrants in Kentucky. And U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has already said is filing a bill he’s calling the “Justice for Breonna Taylor Act” that effectively would end no-knock warrants in the U.S.

Police investigating a drug case obtained a warrant with a no-knock provision for Taylor’s apartment, though officials have said that officers knocked before crashing through the door. Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker has said he did not hear anyone announce that they were police, and fired at what he thought were intruders. Taylor was killed in the ensuing gunfight. No drugs were found.

– Matt Mencarini, Louisville Courier Journal

Contributing: The Associated Press

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